Band sawing is the process of cutting by carrying an endless band saw blade on a head frame assembly comprising a driving wheel and a driven wheel. The wheels are displaced and substantially vertically arranged on the head frame assembly.
A vertical band saw machine can be used for making mitered cuts to a workpiece by pivoting the head frame assembly in relation to the feed direction of the material to be sawed. The head frame assembly is pivotable, preferably at the cut point of the workpiece, located on a workable between the wheels. The driving wheel is preferably electrically powered. Power is provided to the driving wheel through a gear box to reduce band saw blade speed.
In previous known band saw machines, ahead frame assembly is pivotally connected to a translating carriage assembly for making miter cuts. Typically, the carriage assembly which supports the head frame is rail mounted. The workpiece is held stationary as the band saw blade is carried through the material by the translating carriage assembly on the rail. The carriage is translated at a selected feed rate depending on the material being cut.
Further, a clamping device is typically mounted on the worktable of the band saw machine and consists of a fixed vise jaw and moveable vise jaw. The vise jaws are limited in dimension so that they do not interfere with the band saw blade when making mitered cuts.
Several examples of known band saw machines are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,658,689 "Vertical Band Saw with Cantilever Frame" by John L. Yakich issued on Apr. 21, 1987. U.S. Pat. No. 5,320,016 "Vertical Band Saw" by Dieter Spath et al. issued on Jun. 14, 1994; U.S. Pat. No. 5,526,727 "Bandsaw Apparatus with Pivotally-Mounted Saw Head Assembly Arm and Method" by Mark P. Richards et al. issued on Jun. 18, 1996; and U.S. Pat. No. 5,203,247 "Vertical Mitering Band Saw" by John W. D'Arey issued on Apr. 20, 1993.